The present invention relates to a cassette tape player of a type in which a cassette inserted horizontally into the player is automatically moved vertically so as to be set in the playing condition.
This type of cassette tape player has been disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,871 (corres. German Pat. No. 1,207,693) and in Japanese Patent Publication No. 31449/1972. In this type of player, the cassette is automatically moved vertically, when inserted into the player to a predetermined depth in the horizontal direction. It is therefore likely to occur that the user's finger is accidentally caught between the cassette and the player when it is used to push the cassette deep into the player. In addition, a considerably large force is required for moving the cassette vertically, because such a vertical movement is made while the cassette is being depressed in the horizontal direction by fingers.
Further, it is desirable to arrange such that the head, pinch roller and other associated parts are automatically moved toward the cassette, when the latter is set in the playing condition so as to put the player into the playing state. When such an arrangement is adopted, careful consideration should be taken so as to prevent the head and the pinch roller from being moved to the playing position before the setting of the cassette to the playing position, for otherwise the automatical setting of the cassette in the playing position may be hindered by the head and the pinch roller.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Publication No. 40523/1975 discloses a cassette tape player in which ejecting, forwarding and rewinding operations can be managed by a single lever so as to facilitate and simplify these operations. More specifically, this lever is moved horizontally to the left and right for initiating the forwarding and rewinding operations. Thus, in this cassette tape player, it is necessary to preserve a space for accommodating the left and rightward swing of the lever. This means that it is impossible to locate the other parts close to the lever.